Thermal characteristics of organoclay and their effects upon the formation of polypropylene/organoclay nanocomposites

Abstract

We have examined thermal characteristics of two types of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) with different alkylammonium cations and their effects upon the formation of PP nanocomposite, when using a maleic anhydride grafted polypropylene oligomer (maPP) as a compatibilizer. The microstructure of the composite has been characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, transmission electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. OMMT showed the decrease of the interlayer spacing at the processing temperature, due to the release of organic ion by thermal decomposition. Thermal characteristics of OMMTs depended greatly on the interlayer structure of OMMT. When the OMMT with small interlayer spacing and less organophilicity was used, PP composite resulted in the only partial exfoliation due to thermal decomposition of the clay layers.